


i want more

by diminishedmercury



Series: SNBM & RRYN AU [5]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Achilles' Heel, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, mercury is Trying for pyrrha, pyrrha appreciates it, the kids aren't alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26528239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diminishedmercury/pseuds/diminishedmercury
Summary: Sometimes, they do get to be normal teenagers. It was hard to find the time between classes and fighting crime and trying to pretend that they were normal teenagers, but it was the little moments like these that Mercury liked to bask in. He’s not really sure when Pyrrha figured out that he spent most of his nights on the rooftop, but she had and she’d started to join him when he would sneak out just to breathe some air that didn’t feel stifling.They’ve got a half empty bottle of vodka between them, though Mercury hasn’t really participated much in the drinking. He didn’t like the feeling of being intoxicated (he felt like it took away too much of his freedom) and he didn’t want to end up like his father. But he could forget about that with Pyrrha giggling next to him, a flush that he couldn’t really see high on her cheeks. He could feel the warmth though, when she kept her face pressed tight in the crook between his shoulder and neck. It felt silly to be up on the rooftop sipping off of stolen liquor when so much worse was happening in the world, but Mercury has never been anything but selfish.
Relationships: Mercury Black/Pyrrha Nikos
Series: SNBM & RRYN AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511165
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	i want more

Sometimes, they  _ do  _ get to be normal teenagers. It was hard to find the time between classes and fighting crime and trying to pretend that they were normal teenagers, but it was the little moments like these that Mercury liked to bask in. He’s not really sure when Pyrrha figured out that he spent most of his nights on the rooftop, but she had and she’d started to join him when he would sneak out just to breathe some air that didn’t feel stifling.

They’ve got a half empty bottle of vodka between them, though Mercury hasn’t really participated much in the drinking. He didn’t like the feeling of being intoxicated (he felt like it took away too much of his freedom) and he didn’t want to end up like his father. But he could forget about that with Pyrrha giggling next to him, a flush that he couldn’t really see high on her cheeks. He could feel the warmth though, when she kept her face pressed tight in the crook between his shoulder and neck. It felt silly to be up on the rooftop sipping off of stolen liquor when so much worse was happening in the world, but Mercury has never been anything but selfish.

“I’m scared,” She suddenly says and the words pull a frown onto his lips.

“Of what?”

“I’ve been asked to do something…” It’s the first he’s heard of this and it suddenly makes sense why she’s been so distant in the past few weeks. He’d thought that perhaps the Vytal festival was just reminding her of that pedestal she’d been placed on in Mistral. He was wrong, apparently. “And I— I’m not sure if I’ll be the same if I do it.”

He snorts, but he doesn’t mean to make fun of her. It’s a feeling that he can relate to very well, as dulled down as the emotion is. “I made a choice a long time ago, just to get my father’s approval. It didn’t change who I was to Weiss,” and that much was true, but he leaves the implication that he’d changed for everyone else silent. “In my experience, tough choices can change how we react to the world, but not really how we react to the things most important to us.” It feels more than a little out of character for him to be saying this, but there’s an instinct in him that screams to protect and nurture Pyrrha. He doesn’t mind being vulnerable if it was for her sake.

“But is it really so bad if I live for myself for once?” It’s a sentence filled with so much heartbreak that he feels it deep in his chest. He pulls away from her warmth just enough to cup her cheeks with his hands, searching her eyes for some kind of answer that she’s not willing to give him.

“No,” He sighs. “But you’re a hero, Pyrrha. A real one.” And he wasn’t. There was no guilt in living for himself and himself alone. He knows that guilt would consume her whole if she could protect and she didn’t. He would just have to make sure that whatever mess she’s stumbled into wouldn’t get  _ her  _ killed. “You do what you have to. Let me be the selfish one that gets you out of whatever Hell you’re being dragged into.”

“I’m not sure that you can,” She whispers and he watches as a single tear tracks its way down her soft cheek and lands on his thumb. She reaches up with one hand and places it over his own, almost nuzzling into his palm. “But I’d like to believe that you can.”

There’s too much emotion behind those words and he feels a shuddering breath leave his lips. He doesn’t know what’s going on in Pyrrha’s head, but he knows that he doesn’t like how resigned she’d sounded when she’d said that. “Trust me,” He says.

“I do. But do you trust me?” He flinches at the question. It would be so much easier to deflect that comment and forget it happened. It would be so much easier to not analyze these feelings he had towards her. But he’s already promised himself and Weiss that he would work on being vulnerable— no more hiding when it became uncomfortable.

“Yes.” Her smile is radiant and he swears he can see gold again for just a moment.

“Can I kiss you?” He’s taken back to all those months ago sitting in the training room together, her hands roaming his legs. He nods, mostly expecting them to keep dancing around this thing growing between them. She surprises him when she tilts his chin up with her finger and places a chaste kiss against his lips. He chases the feeling when she pulls back with a smile. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now,” She teases.

“Ugh. Just shut up and kiss me again,” She giggles at his words but nods and laces her fingers together behind his neck. Her lips taste like the cheap vodka they’ve been sipping on and the cherry lip gloss she uses. She goes down easy with him when his hands find her waist and then she’s laying against the cool concrete of the roof with him hovering over her. He has a hard time processing all of the sensations flooding through his body, between the way she plays with the hair that tickles his neck and the soft feeling of lips moving against his own. It’s not like kissing Weiss— they’d just been kids experimenting with each other, hadn’t really meant anything by it other than wanting to know why all the other kids liked it. It feels like it means so much more with Pyrrha, like there’s something that she wants to tell him through the way she breathes into his mouth.

She pulls away after another moment spent kissing, staring at him like  _ she’s  _ the one searching for answers in his eyes now. “Will you still kiss me if I change?”

“Only if your secret isn’t that you’re hiding some super hot boyfriend in a tower.”

She laughs, loudly and full-bellied. “And if it is?”

“Then Hot Boyfriend and I will have to start hooking up and leave you out of it.” She laughs again and pets his hair again and he melts into the feeling.

“I think it might be a little awkward if you start hooking up with yourself.” He makes a face as he rolls off of Pyrrha.

“As self-loving as I am, I’ll pass on fucking myself, thanks.” It’s a short moment spent in a contented silence before he reaches over and pushes a piece of her hair behind her ear. “You’re allowed to have your secrets. I don’t think any of your secrets are worse than mine.” And he doesn’t know if he’s ever going to share his past with Blake or Pyrrha. Murder was murder, even if it was to protect someone he loved (and the ones before Weiss… well, those had never been about protecting anyone other than himself from his father).

“Thank you,” She whispers, careful to make sure he could see her hand before she placed it in his own in a loose grasp. She was still so considerate— it hurt him as much as it comforted him.

“Let’s go back in. I think Blake and Weiss are done hogging up the room by now.” She agrees with a thoughtful hum as he pulls himself off the ground and pulls her to her feet. “I mean it though, Pyrrha. There are parts of yourself that never change.”

“I’m glad,” Her smile is brilliant and sad and heartbreaking. “I don’t want to lose this.” He doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just squeezes her hand and leads her back inside. He needed to find out what had her so scared and beat it down before it hurt her.


End file.
